U.S. Army Cpl. Tyler Pimpis, 22, died last week after being injured in a motorcycle crash in Kileen, Texas. Pimpis, shown here in an undated 2008 photo, graduated from Londonderry High School in 2009. (COURTESY)

Londonderry High School graduate, Army veteran, killed in Texas motocycle crash

By April GuilmetUnion Leader Correspondent

LONDONDERRY - The son of Londonderry High School paraprofessional was killed last week after being injured in a motorcycle crash in Kileen, Texas.

U.S. Army Cpl. Tyler J. Pimpis, 22, died Aug. 28. Pimpis, a 2009 Londonderry High School graduate, was stationed at Fort Hood at the time of his death, after serving two combat tours of Afghanistan.

His mother, Laurie Dawkins, is a special education paraprofessional at Londonderry High School.

In fall 2007, while a junior at Londonderry High School, Pimpis was one of a dozen students in the school’s Advanced Metal Engineering and Woodworking programs to assist in building a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home for on an episode of the Extreme Makeover television show.

Thanks to the efforts of the local teens, Manchester couple Reynald and Casey Voisine and their four children had a place to call home after losing their original home and most of their belongings during the 2006 Mother’s Day flood.

Pimpis had served in the Army since early 2010. In addition to his mother, survivors include his father, Stephen Pimpis and sister Kaila Pimpis, both of Londonderry, and brother Michael Pimpis and sister-in-law Tiffany of Westport, Mass.

His younger sister Kaila, who set up a memorial Facebook page in her brother’s honor last weekend, said she had an extremely close relationship with her brother, who surprised her in 2011 when he took leave from one of his tours in Afghanistan to attend her high school graduation.

She said her brother’s infectious smile was what she’d remember the most.

“Even though he was my big brother, I always felt like his big sister because there was always something you needed me for,” Kaila Pimpis said via Facebook post on Monday. “There’s no one in the world that could make me laugh like he could.”

Calling hours for Pimpis take place this Friday, Sept. 6 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Peabody Funeral Home in Londonderry. Services with full military honors will take place at the funeral home on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 10 a.m.